Savers want NSSF to invest in Western region

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT |  Savers in the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) from the western region want the Fund to start making investments in their part of the country.

During a regional employer meeting at Hotel Triangle in Mbarara City on Tuesday, savers said that the fund has only kept its focus on investing in the central region and leaving out other regions

Solomon Akankwasa, an employee at EBO SACCO, questioned the investment criteria followed by the fund noting that most investments by the Fund are located in Kampala while there are more opportunities for investment in other regions.

Citing the real estate investments, Mujibu said that the fund has invested in several real estate projects like the Lubowa housing project, Citadel Apartments Mbuya, Pension Towers, and Temangalo all located in the central region.

Jackson Tuhiirirwe a lecturer at Bishop Stuart University, raised a question about the real estate investments made by the fund. He questioned if the savers with low savings are considered while making such investments. Tuhiirirwe pointed out that all the houses constructed cost above 200 million shillings, but most savers, around 83%, have savings below 10 million shillings.

Patrick Ayota the managing director of NSSF said that the fund was planning to begin the regional investments with a major focus on real estate since they are done with constructing the office house.

He, however, said they are considering finding a local private developer to allocate land and do the housing at a cost determined by the fund.

During the meeting, Ayota revealed that the National Social Security Fund paid out over shs122bn to 7,283 eligible members in the Western region, for the financial year 2022/23, which is about 16% of the total number of members the Fund paid benefits to in that period.

Ayota noted that despite a challenging environment marked by reductions in value across all East African stock markets, and increased scrutiny of the Fund in the third quarter of the just-concluded financial year, the Fund had generally performed remarkably well on almost all Key Performance Indicators in the FY2022/23.

Ayota expressed worry about the low NSSF compliance in the region, noting that the Western region actually registers the lowest compliance rate of 48% compared to other regions.

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